The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government of the United States of America for Governmental purposes without the payment of any royalties thereon or therefor.
(1) Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of weapons test equipment and in particular to testing and monitoring of combat, weapon and launch transient signals for submarine-launched weapons.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
Shipboard and submarine-launched weapons use data and electrical communications with the ship""s systems to provide location, navigation, targeting and fuzing/yield data. In order for these weapons to operate properly it is necessary to test all data and electrical interface signals and to test internal weapon guidance and operating systems. Special test equipment has been designed to monitor combat, weapon and launched transient signals and are necessary to certify launched system readiness. The MK 617 Launched System Test Set (LSTS), Quick Look Launcher Test Set (QLLTS), and the MK 621 Torpedo Tube Instrumentation (TTI) have been used for over thirty years to perform this certification. Certain disadvantages of the current equipment are becoming pronounced. As a result of time and heavy usage, these special test equipment systems are experiencing numerous component failures. Many of the components are antiquated and cannot be fixed or replaced. Custom repairs are possible, but are both expensive and time consuming. The recorders on the special test equipment systems are heavy and bulky. As a result, the test systems are unwieldy and difficult to hand-carry, especially passing through relatively small submarine hatches. Further, the data traces generated with these recorders are imprinted on expensive, light sensitive paper, which deteriorates over time, thereby destroying any record of the weapons launch. Also, analysis and reporting on launch data traces with existing test systems are not immediately available. Instead, the data traces from recorders must be manually reduced and analyzed, a time intensive process subject to human error and inconsistent interpretation. Along with the aging test equipment, weapons and launching systems are becoming increasingly complex. A need exists for test systems to flexibly and accurately monitor additional signals, such as the new signals driven by recent Harpoon, Tomahawk, and Seawolf weapons requirements.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a ruggedized, portable data acquisition system having a lightweight and compact form suitable for hand-carrying in confined shipboard spaces.
It is another object of the invention to provide a portable data acquisition system which produces an immediate readout and interpretations of data traces.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a portable data acquisition system which is fabricated using off-the-shelf, commercially available notebook computers.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a portable data acquisition system which can be reprogrammed to monitor different or new signals as needed.
The invention is a portable data acquisition system comprising a portable computer using PCMCIA data acquisition card (DAQCard 1200), rugged four slot chassis (SCXI 1000), multiplexing amplifier (SCXI 1102C), four channel isolation amplifier with excitation (SCXI 1121), eight channel isolation amplifier (SCXI 1120) and associated terminal blocks and interface cables. All components are housed in a shock resilient and weather tight case. Power is supplied to the case through a standard AC outlet and is distributed to the PC and signal-conditioning unit. The portable computer is located in the upper half of the case, while the signal-conditioning unit is located in the bottom portion. Cable connections are located on a removable panel on one side of the case. The sensor cable mates directly to existing MK 617 ancillary equipment such as the Pressure Velocity Displacement (PVD) assembly and related components, Bxe2x80x94B and BBY""s etc. In addition, a new sensor cable is included. This cable has additional conductors which enable all ADCAP, Harpoon, and Tomahawk signals to be received without the use of adapters. In addition, the sensor cable can also be connected to the MK 617; PVD Housing Assembly, guidance wire cable, fire solenoid inductive pick-up coil, and BBY adapter. An additional cable routes Turbine Pump Ejection System (TPES) rpm signal to the portable data acquisition system. The system includes software written in LabVIEW for Windows(trademark), a visual programming language development by National Instruments Company. A variety of tasks are presented by a main menu which include data acquisition for the MK48/ADCAP or Harpoon/Tomahawk of signals post processing calibration, and real-time signal display for trouble shooting. Weapon specific signals are acquired and displayed along with pertinent signal event timing (automatically computed).